--- Aaron Finestone <
microbrewjournalism@gmail.com> wrote:
> Beating up people because they are gay is evil.
Sam
> Spade is evil. Unlike
> other Bogart characters, there is nothing
heroic
> about him.
****************************************************** Wait a
minute! In Spade's own words: "I should sit around and let
people come in and stick me up?" These guys, whatever their
sexual orientation may have been, continually threatened
violence against Spade by the use of firearms. He could, as I
would have, shot them both with their own guns. As it was, he
smacked them around giving them good incentive not to do it
again. I think he got through to Cairo. Wilmer was too
psychotic for it to have had any impact on him. As for
O'Shaughnessy being heterosexual, where do you get that? I'm
not sure in the story there's sufficient evidence to declare
that she "played on the pink team," but she hated men and
used heterosexual allure solely to manipulate them.
If you found yourself mugged in the street, would you check
to find out whether the mugger was gay or straight before you
defended yourself?
I'm not saying Sam Spade is a "hero." Most of Bogart's best
roles were not heroic, either. I'm thinking of THE PETRIFIED
FOREST, THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE, THE CAIN MUTINY. When
the chips are down, though, Sam Spade is on the side of law
and order. A gay criminal is still a criminal and being gay
does not give you a pass if you elect to commit crime.
Patrick King
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